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i came close to breaking my sunday record, but fell a little short because i got bogged down in the middle of the grid, where i didn't know AFTON or LAING and was slow to work out RESEND for [Forward]. |
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That NYT article is a fun read. My favorite line: |
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I dont understand the Children = ISSUE clue. Was kind of a fast Sunday for me as well otherwise. Also, a BIDET is not really an American gadget.... more European. Mike |
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mike: ISSUE, definition 4. by the way, is anybody here a lexicographer? how do dictionaries decide what order in which to list the definitions of a word? that ISSUE citation has a bizarre ordering. if i had to guess how often the various meanings are used, i'd go 6, 9, 4, 7, 8, 2, and then they get really, really rare. |
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Alex, I think she was more interested in herself being turned on than turning on you! (it was my favorite line in the article, too) |
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Sara, the only way we can render Greek and Hebrew letters in our alphabet is to spell them out, but S and Y are much handier than ess and wye. (My god, do I love XI in Scrabble!) The violets look goofy when giant violet plants are sproinging out in the middle of a patch of vinca ground cover with small leaves. I like them better at my son's school, where they're smaller but pop up all over in a neglected patch of grass. |
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Yes, joon, that would be awesome but I'm not sure why you were thinking of me. Must be sometihng I said somewhere. |
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if the sundays continue this way, not many would miss them. i've complained before but these are no fun, the main clue/theme is over by the middle of the puzzle and the rest is just fill, ok for a friday or saturday but a sunday should at least provide an exciting AHA somewhere near the end or some entertainment along the way. |
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Here's what I found amusing about the article. |
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Hey, but that's where I'm from (among other places) and Dennis Eckersley is very BIG indeed. |
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crosscan, the clue didn't remind me of you, but the answer did (CROSSCUT). |
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I have a burning question about diagramless puzzles in the NYT. They all start with the note that the location of the first square is given with last weeks solutions. If you go there, you'll find the information. Why this indirection? The length of the sentence giving the first square is about as long as the length of the note on the puzzle itself--why not put the note there in the first place? It wouldn't take up more space and would save a sentence in last week's solutions. What am I missing? |
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Of course, my brother Crosscut. We don't talk about my unfortunate twin Crosscan't. |
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Ulrich, thanks for the reminder that there's a second Sunday puzzle! Must go download that one now. |
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Re spellings of letters: I remember a few years ago, watching a telecast of the National Spelling Bee, when a girl approached the microphone and was told by the pronouncer, "Your word is AITCH." From the look on the girl's face I concluded she thought she was on "Candid Camera". |
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Aw, anniversary? That's sweet (and sad, of course). Are there other Mr. and Mrs. Hook–specific references sprinkled throughout the grid besides your RINGs? |
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Not in that puzzle, but check back to my "Essay Questions" (my 2nd BG puzzle before "Double Ring") -- published in the BG on 5/24, my wife's birthday ... her initials were S.A. |
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@orange: Thx--the thought occurred to me, but then I thought, can't you just ignore the opening note? But that may be difficult b/c you want to know about he symmetry. |
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64 is the new 25. |
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Ulrich, in Across Lite, the symmetry info is hidden with the starting square hint in the Notepad, so I don't see either one. Ooh, I'd like to have the symmetry info up front. |
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If her inits had been GC I'd've found some whole nother way to honor her. |
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@karmasartre: Please, please make that 68! |
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Ulrich-- the hint about whether or not a diagramless puzzle has symmetry also tacitly reveals some additional information-- whether the shape of the puzzle is 'thematic'. This seems to me to be a reasonable and traditional piece of information-- after all, we all know that the Monday through Thursday NYT puzzles have themes. |
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@Matt: yes, and that's exactly how I use it. I was not advocating abandoning it--I also use the first square information shamelessly. All I was saying was that if the goal is to make life difficult, hide all up-front information--for the masochistically-inclined solvers. |
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I was at an outdoor antique show yesterday, and saw a lovely (and expensive) pair of EPERGNEs. I commented to my friend that the term sometimes shows up in crossword puzzles, and here it was today! |
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I thought Sunday's was boring. Partly, it was too easy, even with a few things I didn't know, such as the science writer or the rappers. (I did have to guess the intersection of APIA and TAZ, which now I better Google.) And partly it wasn't much of a theme, even for a cryptic fan. It was obvious; it didn't contribute much to the fill; and it also wasn't well integrated. I felt that the word's turning out to be HISTORY should have more motivation from the "surface sense" of the theme entries. |
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For what it's worth, BIDETs are disappearing in France, the only European country where they were prevalent. We didn't see a single one through the 6 or 7 hotels we stayed at last summer. They used to be everywhere. We had one in our own bathroom in Senegal, years ago. |
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Mel: As opposed to the fixture typically next to them, they are not very suited for doing crossword puzzles--who wants all that water splashing against you know what when you have to think! |
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Did the Reagle PI which is now in the LAT and I still can't get into the puns. They really make the puzzle dislikeable and boring. It feels like a whole punch of cross work for a minimal punchline. Nothing better then actually being able to get a theme and fill that puppy in, but with Merl that rarely happens |
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Mel: here's another reason why bidets may be going out of style (I just remembered this): The great Ava Gardner reported this w.r.t. her relationship with Frank Sinatra: "We were fine in bed, but the fight started as soon as we went for the bidet". In other words, bidets are being recognized as the cause for post-coital belligerence! |
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As for BOGART... |
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I lived for a year in Grenoble in 1994 and had a bidet and never used it. But now in Japan a more high-tech version of bidets is becoming common, and I've been braver about trying them. I've actually come to like the effect, except that it leaves you all wet with no obvious way to dry off (that doesn't involve masses of soggy toilet paper). |
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Tom, you need one with an air dryer. |
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